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Tampa School District Must Stop the Bullying

May 18, 2017

Liberty Counsel renewed a previous demand with a follow-up letter to Hillsborough County Public Schools regarding its pitiful investigation and whitewash of the discriminatory bullying behavior of Lora Jane Riedas, a math teacher at Riverview High School.

Liberty Counsel now represents four students who independently confirmed and provided additional information regarding the classroom political activism and bullying of Riedas. Her social media confirms her activism during class time. School officials failed to properly address and discipline Riedas’ behavior, despite the obvious contradictory evidence.

Reidas admitted to the school investigator that she used personal Twitter and Facebook accounts but stated it was not during instructional time. She also stated that she did not use her role as the Riverview Gay-Straight Alliance (RGSA) sponsor to coerce students to participate in Riverview’s Day of Silence. Ms. Riedas’ (and Hillsborough Schools) also claim that RGSA club activities are exclusively “student led.”

But, Riedas’ social media and emails were sent during instructional hours through the Riverview internal internet, promoting the club, GLSEN events and political viewpoints. Moreover, Riedas specifically promoted the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) publicly coercive “Teacher’s Guide” to pro-LGBT classroom activism on “Day of Silence,” without any caveats, urging other teachers to implement its classroom coercion.

Riedas told the investigator that only the students who wore rosary beads were asked to remove them because she said the rosary is a “gang” symbol.

But, three students wearing small cross necklaces or crucifixes were told by Riedas to “take it off” or “take it off or cover it up.” One student wore a rosary, which is neither a “gang” symbol nor against school policy. The rosary was provided to the student after receiving it for confirmation, as a symbol of faith.